CW Kanbanhttps://www.cwkanban.com
Kanban for Connectwise Manage
Thu, 23 May 2019 23:14:30 +0000 en-US
hourly
1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.1.1138381921Making it easier for engineers to enter timehttps://www.cwkanban.com/2019/05/15/making-it-easier-for-engineers-to-enter-time/
https://www.cwkanban.com/2019/05/15/making-it-easier-for-engineers-to-enter-time/#respondWed, 15 May 2019 19:24:22 +0000https://www.cwkanban.com/?p=28732As I heard at a ConnectWise Share (User Group) event recently from Sea-Level Operations, if a computer shop received 8 new computers a day and threw out 3, they would go out of business real quick. In the service business, our inventory is HOURs. Every hour needs to be accounted for. It’s easy to find […]

]]>As I heard at a ConnectWise Share (User Group) event recently from Sea-Level Operations, if a computer shop received 8 new computers a day and threw out 3, they would go out of business real quick. In the service business, our inventory is HOURs. Every hour needs to be accounted for. It’s easy to find excuses like too busy, no time, multi-tasking etc. Sharing the importance of accounting for time, and doing everything possible to remove excuses for not entering time are both vital.

Even with the usual myriad methods in ConnectWise itself, our own MSP teams had challenges with entering all-their time, on time, in real time. Especially when they are working multiple tickets and it’s a busy day, it is hard to keep up. So we developed two methods: time entry right in Kanban and a handy Slackbot that provides bi-directional integration with ConnectWise. We call the Slackbot ” CraftyBot” because it’s another creation of our Linux/DevOps MSP called Crafty Penguins.

In CW Kanban, you can now click on any ticket and enter time. A simple lean & mean time entry dialog lets you quickly enter time. By assuming the defaults on the ticket such as agreement, the time entry becomes very streamlined.

Our new CraftyBot for ConnectWise makes it super easy to create tickets, add a time entry etc with single commands. Here are some example use cases.

1. Group chat about a particular client or project issue that might not have a ticket created yet, maybe something mentioned while discussing with the client on another issue. In the team conversation, anyone can create a ticket for this new event that has become an issue. The bot will create a ticket, and put up a link so everyone can bring it up to make notes/assignments.

2. Continuing from the example above, you and your colleague did more than a quick mention. Time can get away on you and before you know it, 15 minutes have passed… but with a single command, you can add 15 minutes to the ticket. No need to find the ticket in ConnectWise, bring it up, hit the time entry button, wait for that dialog to come up, save etc and then forgot what you were doing.

3. Customer provides an update (phone/email/ticket/chat/etc), and one tech passes the update on to another technician. CraftyBot provides the summary, and also a direct link to the ticket so you can bring it up for further details/changes. The CraftyBot can even change the status without ever having to go into ConnectWise.

4. While you’re in the middle of a large project ticket, a colleague walks up to your desk to “briefly” bounce ideas of you about some internal or marketing project. Before you know it, 15 minutes flies by before you get back to your project. Use a single command to track to add 15 minutes as a charge code in ConnectWise :

Ideally, everyone “should” be working out of ConnectWise. The reality is that that’s often not the case… we can get hyper-focused on chatting with people on Slack, responding to emails, chewing through a coding project or writing assignment etc. Having tools that help to reduce the cost of context-switching while tracking time accurately can be very helpful. After entering time throughout the day using either Kanban or the CraftyBot , at the end of the day you just need to quick review your timesheet to ensure there are no remaining gaps or overlapping time entries.

We’d be happy to share a demo of the above, with many other handy time-saving features. Even saving just 15 minutes a day per person can have a $100,000 positive impact to the bottom line profit in a 10-person organization.

]]>https://www.cwkanban.com/2019/05/15/making-it-easier-for-engineers-to-enter-time/feed/028732Updated Board Design, Time Entry Support, and Free Traininghttps://www.cwkanban.com/2019/05/13/updated-board-design-time-entry-support-and-free-training/
https://www.cwkanban.com/2019/05/13/updated-board-design-time-entry-support-and-free-training/#respondMon, 13 May 2019 19:38:35 +0000https://www.cwkanban.com/?p=28716Here’s a quick heads-up about changes at CW Kanban that will make your life better. Do share this post with your team members so they too could benefit from these updates! Time Entries Yes, now you can enter time from Kanban boards. This will save your team time, with one less reason to open a […]

]]>Here’s a quick heads-up about changes at CW Kanban that will make your life better. Do share this post with your team members so they too could benefit from these updates!

Time Entries

Yes, now you can enter time from Kanban boards. This will save your team time, with one less reason to open a ticket in ConnectWise. Just click “Create Time Entry” from the card context menu. This was one of our most-requested features and will be released to all customers shortly. We will send out an educational email about “Removing excuses for time time entry” once the update has been deployed.

Referral plan

Now you can earn up to $100 credit on your CW Kanban account when you refer new customers. Thanks for not keeping CW Kanban a secret! Get the details and submit your referrals here: https://www.cwkanban.com/referral-program/

Updated Board Design

It’s been over 3 years since we made major changes to the board design, so we gave it a refresh- simplifying columns, making cards more organized, and clarifying swimlanes. This will also be released to all customers shortly.

As part of this, the project swimlane now shows additional information about the health of the project, such as estimated/actual start and finish times. This makes it easier to see which projects are off track and need some attention.

Training

Did you know we offer free training calls to help you use CW Kanban and adopt agile practices in your organization? Well, now you know. Schedule your call at https://wim.as.me/cwkanbantraining .

Thanks for using CW Kanban! As always, let us know if you have questions or feedback- help@cwkanban.com.

]]>The IT MSP industry is very close-knit. MSP owners and managers frequently meet counterparts from other companies in training, user groups, and association and community meetings. Sharing ideas, techniques, and tools happens naturally. We’re introducing a way to say “Thank you!” to our customers who share CW Kanban with other PSA users. From now on, if you refer a new CW Kanban subscriber, you’ll earn credits for your own CW Kanban account- either $50 or $100, depending on the amount of the referral. On top of that, the new client will receive the same credit.

Here’s how it works:

As a current CW Kanban customer, discuss Kanban with folks from another organization that uses ConnectWise, Autotask, or other PSAs. You’ve discovered how awesome Kanban is- don’t keep it a secret!

]]>https://www.cwkanban.com/2019/04/29/send-your-friends-and-get-paid-introducing-the-referral-program/feed/028533What’s going on at CWKanban?https://www.cwkanban.com/2019/04/22/whats-going-on-at-cwkanban/
https://www.cwkanban.com/2019/04/22/whats-going-on-at-cwkanban/#respondMon, 22 Apr 2019 19:13:48 +0000https://www.cwkanban.com/?p=28473A lot has been happening at CW Kanban over the past few months. We’ve made steady improvements to the application and have improved other parts of the business too. Here are some of the things we’ve been working on and how they benefit you: Chat support on website You can now chat with us for […]

]]>A lot has been happening at CW Kanban over
the past few months. We’ve made steady improvements to the application and have
improved other parts of the business too. Here are some of the things we’ve
been working on and how they benefit you:

Chat support on website

You can now chat with us for technical or sales help, getting answers to your questions almost immediately. Just visit https://www.cwkanban.com/ and click the “Questions?” button hovering at the bottom-right corner of the screen. We’re available weekdays between 9-5 Pacific Time.

Embed CW Kanban in ConnectWise

CW Kanban can now be embedded in your
ConnectWise application, making it even easier and faster to use. You can
configure tabs in ConnectWise that show Kanban, such as on the Today page or
company or ticket pages. This is a beta feature and we’re looking for people to
help test and evaluate it. See https://www.cwkanban.com/configure-connectwise-embedded

Get trained

We’re offering free training sessions to all
new and existing customers. Do you have questions about using CW Kanban?
Finding it difficult to adopt Kanban or agile methods in your business? We’ve
been helping new customers come on board quickly with Kanban (both the product
and the methodology), and we’re now offering the same training to all
customers. Just reply if you’d like to set up a free 45-minute session. We’re
also planning to offer an advanced paid consulting package, including help with
ConnectWise setup and a package of ready-made organization workflows. Let us
know if you’re interested in paid training.

New roles

Matt Fox, one of the early developers of CW Kanban, has become VP of the product. This represents a new focus on increasing development velocity and improving the overall Kanban experience.

We increased pricing of the annual plan to bring it in line with industry standard annual discounts. Existing customers can contact us before May 8 to top-up to 12 months at the old price. See https://www.cwkanban.com/pricing/

Coming soon…

Here’s a sneak peek at what we’re working on
now. We expect to have more details about these improvements in the next
update.

Add time entries to tickets directly in Kanban

Manager subscription plan- an alternate licensing mode where instead of licensing members whose tickets appear on boards, licensing is based on how many users can log in. This is ideal for companies where project managers or service dispatchers use Kanban but the technicians do not.

]]>https://www.cwkanban.com/2019/04/22/whats-going-on-at-cwkanban/feed/028473CraftyBot – Slack integration to ConnectWise Managehttps://www.cwkanban.com/2019/03/16/slack-chat-bot-integration-for-connectwise-manage/
https://www.cwkanban.com/2019/03/16/slack-chat-bot-integration-for-connectwise-manage/#respondSat, 16 Mar 2019 23:34:26 +0000https://www.cwkanban.com/?p=28328Is your team already using Slack for internal chat? Or even delivering chat-based support to clients using Slack? Are your engineers looking for easier ways to create tickets and enter time without having to slog through the ConnectWise interface? We’ve built a Slackbot exactly for that reason! Click here for an interview with one of […]

]]>Is your team already using Slack for internal chat? Or even delivering chat-based support to clients using Slack? Are your engineers looking for easier ways to create tickets and enter time without having to slog through the ConnectWise interface?

Create ticket with a single chat command. The Ticket URL will be indicated so you can easily bring it up in a web browser.

Add time entry to existing tickets.

Add notes to tickets

Add schedule entries to tickets

Create CRM activities

And more!

It’s pretty powerful to be able to create a ticket right in the middle of a team discussion about some issue. Then everyone is aware a ticket has already been created and can easily add their time to the same ticket. This helps to capture 100% of all time in real-time and accurately against the correct ticket and client.

Over the last year we have been syncing more and more data about your ConnectWise tickets. This has helped identify ticket neglect, blocks, or resource mis-management. Now that kanban tracks all this data, we thought it would time to let you do something meaningful with it.

Introducing card customizations!

Now you can create custom rules to change the appearance of your cards. No more fixed layouts; you can define unique styling for conditions that matter to you and your team.

You can customize cards to simply alter their default appearance or to alter the appearance of the cards based on specific conditions. As the ticket’s data changes, its CW Kanban Card will update dynamically to give you a quick visual representation of information you care about. For example, you could create a rule so if a ticket that has a “Ready” status, and no resources assigned, it would be outlined in a custom color or have a special background color.

You can change the styles based on if it’s a service ticket, project ticket, or issue; whether it has too old of a time entry, or note; whether a client has replied, or if no resources are assigned. Based on these conditions you can change the font weight, add a border to a card, color the border of a card, change the background color, change the color of the priority indicator, and we don’t plan on stopping there. We are working on adding more options for triggers and styles; so shoot us an email if you would like something specific covered, and we will see if we can make it happen.

For detailed instructions on the new customization system, see the knowledgebase entry here .

New Filters and Swimlane

We have also recently added two new filter types to help you create meaningful Kanban boards: Filter by due date, and filter by project manager. We have also added a swimlane by project manager option.

Due date: Similar to the SLA date filter, you can filter out tickets that are due within a specified time threshold. Just like the other settings it can be configured by minutes, hours, days or weeks. Alternatively you can filter out cards due before a specific weekday, i.e. ‘Fri’ to show all tickets due before Friday. After Friday it ticks over to show tickets due before the next Friday.

Project manager: You can now create swimlanes for, or filter an entire board by, project manager. Each swimlane will show the project manager and tickets for all the projects they are the lead on. The filter will remove all tickets on a board that aren’t attatched to projects led by the selected members.

New Licensing System

We are rolling out our licensing system so you can have better control of which members will have their tickets displayed in CW Kanban. Previously our licensing system had not been enforced so with this change you will have to update which members are licensed. To do this, open the licensing menu under the ‘Admin’ header on the navbar in CW Kanban. From here you can easily manage your licensed members. To manage your total number of licenses please log in and navigate to your billing portal.

]]>https://www.cwkanban.com/2019/02/13/now-accepting-autotask-beta-signup-applications/feed/028255Building a Lean QBR Process with ConnectWise and Kanbanhttps://www.cwkanban.com/2019/01/14/building-a-lean-qbr-process/
https://www.cwkanban.com/2019/01/14/building-a-lean-qbr-process/#respondMon, 14 Jan 2019 19:30:15 +0000https://www.cwkanban.com/?p=27907Introduction All businesses know the importance of keeping a solid communication channel with their clients. For the ITSP/MSP industry, one part of this is commonly called the Quarterly Business Review (QBR). We have used Lean Thinking to re-engineer this common MSP process in a very unique way. We have mapped out the end-to-end value stream […]

Introduction

All businesses know the importance of keeping a solid communication channel with their clients. For the ITSP/MSP industry, one part of this is commonly called the Quarterly Business Review (QBR). We have used Lean Thinking to re-engineer this common MSP process in a very unique way. We have mapped out the end-to-end value stream and implemented it using ConnectWise Manage and CWKanban. In our own MSPs (Kerkhoff Technologies & Crafty Penguins), since QBRs are rarely quarterly, we decided to call them Business Technology Reviews (BTR). As we have a small team, our goal is an average of one BTR per week, allowing for the related prep, staging, and follow-up work for a quality client experience.

Due to our wide variety of clients, each BTR is unique. Our desired outcomes include:

A smooth, consistent workflow

Making all tasks clear and easy to follow

Leveraging team accountability and brain power

Tracking all the work in ConnectWise

Built-in metrics

A structure so that over time, more and more components can be delegated from the leadership team

Advantages

With these goals in mind, we can see many advantages. It doesn’t require the “Gut Feeling” of a manager. It avoids last minute changes and cramming. It avoids data in multiple places such as Excel, Wiki, Sharepoint, Outlook etc. Also, teams can self-manage the process, because peers are able to push the BTR process forward.

Taking our Lean Thinking approach one step further, we visualize the BTR process on a Kanban board using CWKanban.

How tickets get created on this board

First of all, a Ticket gets created on the BTR Board if it is missing according to our Account Management Calendar. For all new clients, the first BTR is created as part of the on-boarding project. Lastly, the final step in the BTR Follow Up Stage is to create a fresh Ticket for the next BTR. This gives us a complete BTR cycle. It also gives us flexiblity, since some clients only want a BTR once or twice per year.

BTR Policies

While creating the new BTR process, we adopted these policies:

Only move to next step in the process when all tasks are completed. This is tracked by ConnectWise Statuses mapped to CWKanban columns.

Use an RACI chart (see example below) to provide clarity around who is accountable, responsible, needs to be consulted, and needs to be informed.

Be judicious with scheduling and only use it to our advantage rather then busy work.

Avoid automatic closed loop and automatic notifications to the customer.

The RACI Chart

RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed. See https://thedigitalprojectmanager.com/raci-chart-made-simple/
for a great description of using RACI Charts with projects. RACI Charts
are a tool that identifies tasks and responsibilities in a process, and
decision making and responsibilities are allocated to each role using
the above terms. RACI Charts help to streamline communication, involve
the right people in communication, avoid work overload and silos, and
setting clear expectations. We’ve assigned RACI statuses to these roles:

Requirements/Scoping

Scheduling

Technical Prep

Client meeting

Follow up meeting

Create follow-up tasks in CW

Feedback to team

Send follow-up email to client

QA Review before closing

Visualizing the BTR process with a CWKanban board, we’ve established these best practices for RACI Charts:

The Service Board’s Dispatch is (R)esponsible for all ticket scheduling and coordination

Tasks are assigned to resources that are (R)esponsible for completing the tasks. Typically, these are team leads that will delegate individual task assignments.

The Ticket owner is (A)ccountable for the ticket.

(C)onsulted resources are scheduled but not assigned to tasks. These could be Subject-Matter Experts to confirm/verify configuration settings and tribal knowledge. Typically, these are Tier 3 technical resources or account managers.

(I)nformed resources are CC’d on the ticket to be kept up to date on things happening.

The default escalation process goes to the Ticket owner for putting the Ticket back on track.

BTR RACI Chart Example

Roles

CEO

Ops Manager

Account Manager

Team Lead

Exec Assistant

Techs

Clients

Requirements / Scoping

C

A

R

C

I

Scheduling

C

A

I

R

Technical Prep

A/I

R/I

R

Client meeting

C/R

R

A/C

R

I

Followup meeting

C

A

Create followup tasks in CW

I

I

A

I

R

I

I

Feedback to team

I/C

R

A

I

I

I

Send followup email to client

C

I

QA Review before closing

A

R

ConnectWise Service Board Setup

As mentioned before, we use ConnectWise for tracking and a CWKanban Board to visualize the QBR process. We’ve used ConnectWise Manage and CWKanban to set up these Statuses on our BTR Service Board as follows.

Status

Description

﻿BTR Needed

BTR need is identified and needs scheduling.

﻿Scheduling

Quick review of the requirements for this client. Schedule all internal, client and review meetings.

Scheduled

Ticket is ready waiting before going to Stage.

Stage

Gathering information. Setting the “stage” for the BTR meeting will include creating an agenda, running reports and reviewing the client roadmap.

With the above Status descriptions, our ConnectWise BTR Service Board is setup with this configuration:

Sort

Status

Default

Display

No Time

Closed

Escalation Status

0

BTR Needed

yes

We have NOT responded

10

Scheduling

yes

We have responded

15

Scheduled

yes

yes

We are waiting (do not escalate)

20

Stage

yes

We have created a plan

30

Prep

yes

We have created a plan

40

Deliver

yes

We have created a plan

50

Follow up

yes

We have created a plan

60

Completed

yes

We have resolved the issue

99

Closed

yes

yes

We have resolved the issue

CWKanban Service Board Setup

The next step is to create the CWKanban board. Here’s how we’ve set it up:

Board Description

Add a link back to the documentation URL if possible

Show hours

This will highlight the budgeted and actual hours

Show Due Date

This is critical to keep things moving forward

Swimlane field

None

Service Boards

Select only the ConnectWise BTR board

Resources

Everyone (no filter), including unassigned tickets

CWKanban Column Setup

BTR Identified

Scheduling

Scheduled

Staging

Prep

Delivery

Follow ups

Completion Review

WIP times

Unlimited

10

min 5

max 4

max 2

max 2

max 2

max 2

Status Age Warning

30d

14d

n/a

14d

14d

14d

7d

7d

You can see a screenshot showing the column setup of the CWKanban BTR Service Board setup page below.

With the setup described above, the CWKanban board will look like the example below. As you can see, we have BTRs scheduled but are not actively staging, prepping or delivering any. And we are a little behind on the followups and completion reviews.

ConnectWise BTR Ticket Template

A ConnectWise Ticket template should also be setup specifically for the BTR Service Board. This helps us reach the goal of standardizing the process by making tasks clear. Keeping this data in ConnectWise also keeps all tracking of the work done. Here’s how we’ve set up our ConnectWise BTR Ticket template:

Template name and Ticket Summary: Business Technology Review

Board: BTR Status: BTR Needed Budget: 12 hours

Discussion: Review reports on ticket usage, ongoing service issues and technology issues with the client. Discuss plans going forward and ideas for new services/needs/wants from client.

Send Notes as Email: To Resources only, not the Contact or CCs by default.

Tasks: The numberinfront of each bullet point presents task sequence on the service template. The items in all caps are just headings to separate the tasks relative to each status, or step in the value stream.

In our system, for many of the tasks, we’ve also put in a link to our relevant Wiki URLs to reference the more detailed SOPs, templates, and agendas for ease of access. You could certainly mention your Sharepoint, IT Glue, or file server paths here as well.

QBR Ticket Tasks

10 – SCHEDULING TASKS11 – Schedule 15-30 minute internal meeting to research what needs to be done for this BTR. Decide who needs to be in the pre/post BTR meetings and who needs to be in the client BTR meeting. Figure out which technician would most likely be doing the Staging work.12 – Remove tasks from ticket that are not required for this client13 – Scheduling it with client, normally 4-8 weeks at least in advance.14 – Schedule internal pre-BTR prep meeting. 2 hours, ideally 2 days before the client meeting. 15 – Schedule internal post-meeting. 1 hour, normally the day after the client meeting.16 – Adjust ticket budget hours based on discussion17 – Update Due date to reflect due date for completion of Stage, so that techs will complete the staging tasks. Staging needs to be completed at least 5 business days before the pre-BTR meeting.18 – Add all resources to the ticket, and ensure all remaining tasks are assigned appropriately.

20 – STAGE TASKS21 – Setup agenda template in Wiki so we can have productive pre-BTR meeting. Copy the current template and put new wiki link into ticket.22 – Fill out Best Practice Sheets, upload to Wiki in client’s space, and link into ticket.23 – Run NCentral Executive Reports and attach to Ticket. 24 – Run Sophos reports and attach to Ticket.25 – Review/Update Wiki Roadmap with suggestions and put wiki link in the ticket.26 – Retrieve latest security checklist for client and put wiki link in the ticket. Note any areas of concern to bring up with the client and add to the agenda.29 – Once all staging tasks are complete, update the due date for when the Follow Up should be completed.

40 – DELIVERY TASKS41 – Reminder for the meeting: Spend only about 10% of the available time talking about the existing system. Resist talking about pricing. If meeting in person, come prepared with extra copies etc. Look sharp! Smile, listen, take notes and plan for the next quarter!42 – Add notes to ticket (attachment is OK)

50 – FOLLOW-UP TASKS51 – Create opportunities for new sales, agreement updates, proposals etc. Add the Opportunity numbers to the Follow-Up page52 – Create Activities for opportunity next steps. Prefix them with “BTR Follow-up – ” so that we can easily identify later. 53 – Create Tickets as required (prefix with “BTR Follow-up – “). Set the source field on Tickets to BTR.54 – Draft an email to the client with the notes and follow-ups.55 – Cascade communication to our team. Add to team L10 weekly agendas and huddles as required.56 – Email Client a summary.59 – Create NEW BTR ticket for next time, if it doesn’t exist. Put the desired date in there if appropriate. Apply the service template.

60 – COMPLETED TICKET REVIEW TASKS61 – Regular completed ticket review process. Are all tasks completed? Does it have the correct agreement? Is all time entered properly? etc. If not, re-open the ticket.

Verification of a Healthy QBR Process

With the BTR process we’ve setup up, every client who should have a BTR has a Ticket open on the BTR Service Board.

All BTR Tickets have the correct people assigned, statuses, agreements and budget.

With a smooth BTR process there should be no red on the CWKanban board, and no Tickets are hanging around longer then they should.

The Kanban WIP limits are respected.

The team has tasks assigned to them and work is done from the Tickets.

Documentation is up to date.

In a healthy BTR process, follow-up Activities and Tickets are being completed within 30 days of the BTR.

Long-term Enhancement Ideas

We’ve had great success with our new QBR Process. Here are some idesa and resources to take your own QBR process to the next level.

Consider using SLAs to help measure and standardize performance.

Consider using ConnectWise configuration items to track expires and auto-create the tickets. This could be used to store the date of the next BTR in a configuration, and then automatically create the BTR ticket when the configuration’s expiry date gets closer.

If the client meetings are on a predictable schedule, consider using recurring ticket templates to automatically create tickets on quarterly, semi-annual or annual schedule as required.

Integrate metrics into the client facing reporting, such as SLA performance, downtime, total issues resolved etc.

Consider using tracks to generate other activities, emails, or tickets on a schedule.

]]>https://www.cwkanban.com/2019/01/14/building-a-lean-qbr-process/feed/027907SLA Support, Changing Ticket Priorities, and Drag & Drop resource assignmentshttps://www.cwkanban.com/2018/11/16/cwkanban-update-november-2018/
https://www.cwkanban.com/2018/11/16/cwkanban-update-november-2018/#respondFri, 16 Nov 2018 18:40:14 +0000https://www.cwkanban.com/?p=27858Kanban has been updated for most of our clients with 3 highly requested features, Service level agreements Changing ticket priority Dragging tickets between member swimlanes We’re still in the process of rolling out this update, so we appreciate your patience while we continue upgrading all instances. We have had a lot of positive feedback internally, […]

]]>Kanban has been updated for most of our clients with 3 highly requested features,

Service level agreements

Changing ticket priority

Dragging tickets between member swimlanes

We’re still in the process of rolling out this update, so we appreciate your patience while we continue upgrading all instances.

We have had a lot of positive feedback internally, and think these powerful tools will really help your team get the most out of ConnectWise.

Service Level Agreements

With SLAs now in CWKanban, you can monitor and manage tickets under an SLA from the Kanban board itself. Cards can be set up with indicators displaying how much time is remaining in their current SLA stage. You can also set warnings, so if a ticket draws close to running out of time, it will turn orange, and red once it has expired.

Tickets advance through their SLA stages as you drag the ticket to different statuses over its lifetime. You also have the ability to filter tickets by SLA stage, or by the time remaining on a tickets SLA stage. This gives you even greater control to make Kanban boards suited to your specific needs.

Changing Ticket Priority

Changing a ticket’s priority can now be done without leaving the Kanban board. As with changing a status or assigning resources, open the ellipse menu of a ticket and select “Change Priority”. Select the desired priority from the menu that pops up, and the ticket will refresh with the new priority. This allows for quick changes over a ticket’s lifetime without having to load up the ConnectWise interface to make these small adjustments.

Dragging Tickets Between Member Swimlanes

At last! You can now drag tickets between swimlanes when they are organized by member. This expands our previous feature of managing tickets assigned members via the card menu; if you just want to make a quick change from one member to another, all you need to do is drag between their swimlanes. This will remove the original member and add the member of the target swimlane.

Dragging from the unassigned member swimlane makes dispatch and assigning new tickets even easier. Rather than open any other app or menu, simply drag from the pool of unassigned tickets and drop it into your own swimlane.

We are really excited to be bringing these quality of life improvements to CWKanban. Please let us know what you think about them! And, if you have any other suggestions or requests, shoot those our way too! We always want to know what we can do to improve the CWKanban experience.